


Syzygy

by StarshipEnterprise



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, I really love Vulcans, M/M, Mentions of Child Abuse and Sexual Abuse, Minor Character Death, Pining, Sharing a Bed, Temporary Character Death, also lots of desert aesthetic because it's my favorite, and a good old Star Trek adventure, and about family in every sense of the word, and nothing graphic, and planning, and this story is about Jim and Spock above all else, but none of them are love interests, don't let the tiny prologue fool you, literal months of planning so please be kind, lots of awesome space stuff, lots of pining, not until MUCH later, please give it a chance it might surprise you, post-Star Trek: Beyond, this is gonna be a long story, this story takes place directly after it and involves a lot of guesswork, warnings will be posted at the beginnings of those chapters, yes I know it hasn't come out yet, yes there are lots of original characters in this story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-09 22:34:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6926359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarshipEnterprise/pseuds/StarshipEnterprise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>It's funny, Jim never pictured Spock with a big family – probably because imagining Spock stony-faced and holding a baby is bizarre enough – but he supposes that having a lot of kids is logical, with how few Vulcans are left.  Even if the kids are more than half human, apparently.  And they're smart as fuck and badass, every one of 'em, because of course Spock's family would be.  Jim's grown more attached to them than he'll ever admit, and he's happy for Spock.  Really.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Whoever his mate turns out to be is the luckiest person in the universe.</i>
</p>
<p>After the events of Star Trek: Beyond, Jim and what remains of his crew are without their Enterprise, reunited with each other but lightyears from home.  People who look like funhouse mirror versions of Jim and Spock appear at every turn.  Suspicious attacks from unknown forces devastate every ship the crew tries to escape on.  Unable to trust Starfleet and joined by the strangest assortment of Vulcan children that Jim has ever seen (who also claim to be Spock's family from twenty-six years in the future), they learn of a new enemy at a time when everything at stake is all they have left.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Syzygy

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based immediately after Star Trek: Beyond, so obviously a lot of speculation is involved. The canon of this story won't change with the events of the movie. It's gonna be a long story, with lots of insight to Vulcan culture, and lots of pining.

**Sy·zy·gy**  
ˈsizijē/  
 _noun_  
the linear alignment of three or more celestial bodies

\---

_Stardate 2262.206_

There's no protocol for this. No regulation, no general order. Spock said so, and Spock's head is a steel trap for rules and strictures, so it must be true.

That's a huge fucking oversight, in Jim's opinion.

He can't be the first captain to have his ship systematically disassembled by mircro-robots in open space. The first one to command a crew with no ship to get them home.

(Well, half a crew...maybe less. They haven't even had the time to take role-call yet, or maybe they haven't had the stomach.)

(There's a lot of "maybe"s at the moment.)

Regardless of the fact that the seemingly endless Starfleet orders Jim spent night after night studying at the Academy don't cover what to do if your ship is no longer in the picture, they need to get home. Back to Earth, that is. Gaila would chew him out for being xenophobic if Jim considered Earth home to everyone in Starfleet.

Fuck, is Gaila alive? Did she make it out?

Jim is the captain. He can't panic. He's managed not to so far, which is a massive accomplishment considering the shit-show they've been through the last few days. They got off that godforsaken planet, and now Jim and the remaining crew are on board an Andorian passenger liner that's definitely seen better days. By some miracle, Uhura had managed to get the alien tech on the Class M planet working well enough to send out a weak distress signal, and the Andorian ship - the Dumai, it's called - was close enough to pick it up.

That was twelve hours ago. Long enough for the crew to get some much needed rest in quarters designed for soldiers: tightly-packed bunks, ten in each room. Three stacks of three narrow beds against the walls, with one slightly wider bed that Jim insisted Spock take. The Vulcan fought him on it a bit, until Jim shut him up by reminding him of the _gaping hole in his side_.

"The wound is hardly deep, Captain," he grumbled at the time, crawling under the thin blankets all the same.

"Don't pull that shit with me, it barely missed your heart." But Spock was out before Jim even finished speaking.

Now that the depleted Enterprise crew is relatively more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, clad in the grey jumpsuits generously (grudgingly) provided by their Andorian hosts, Jim supposes it's time to call a meeting.

The passenger liner is fairly large, about the same size as the Enterprise but far less elegant, and nearly empty, on a return trip from dropping off soldiers in the Andorian army. So Jim locates a spare conference room fairly easily, where he, Spock, Bones, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, and Scotty can sit down and have a few moments of peace to figure out what the hell they're going to do.

"Did you sleep at all?" Jim asks Bones before they've even fully sat down, because his friend looks like death warmed over.

"You have any idea how many crew members sustained injuries, Jim?" He mumbles in reply from behind the hands he's running over his haggard face. "I'm genuinely asking, because I've lost count. Burns, lacerations, stab wounds...we didn't lose anyone last night, that's the good news. I'm gonna have words with the captain of this tin can about the lack of medical supplies on board."

"The captain's already not liking us, Bones. And somehow I doubt exposure to your Southern charm will change that," Jim sighs.

Spock is still moving stiffly - well, more stiffly - but according to Bones he's in stable condition, so Jim tries to keep his worried glances to a minimum.

The crew gets settled at the round table, Spock to Jim's right and Bones to his left, and for a second it almost feels like they're prepping for a mission in the briefing room. But the briefing room is floating in bits through open space, like the rest of his silver lady.

"What's the word, Captain?" Scotty asks from his seat on Bones' other side, his mouth a tight line.

"Well, that's kinda the problem. Captain Tridla has been generous enough to loan me a PADD, but it can't reach any of Starfleet's channels." Jim holds up the PADD in question, a battered old thing like the rest of the ship. "Uhura and I are working on it. In the meantime, we're on our own. Tridla doesn't think this liner could even handle a trip to Earth, so we can cross our fingers for a nearby Starfleet base, but--"

The door hisses open on the far side of the room, and a human kid slips in. From what Jim understands, there aren't many passengers on the ship besides the Enterprise crew, and this is the first time he's seen anyone else. And he isn't Andorian, which is a little odd. Most humans don't have any reason to be this deep into space, especially kids. Before Jim can get a good look at him, he's ducked under the table between Chekov and Sulu, not saying a word or taking the time to so much as look at them. The room is silent for a few seconds, and Chekov looks up at Jim and shrugs. Sulu is grinning like Jim hasn't seen him grin since the last time he caught him looking at a picture of his daughter on the bridge.

It's just some kid playing hide-and-seek. The last time Jim saw a human kid in real life must've been...fuck, it might've been Thomas Harewood's little girl. Nearly three years ago.

The kid can stay. He's not hurting anybody. And it _is_ a great hiding place.

"Anyway," Jim continues, his mouth quirked up as he regains his crew's attention. "The best we can hope for is a nearby Starfleet base, or that we can find a way to contact the fleet so they'll send a ship our way. Bones, how long can the crew last without more medical supplies?"

The doctor sighs long-sufferingly before replying.

"Honestly, Spock is the one I'm most worried about, and he'll be fine as long as he keeps doing that hoo-doo--"

"Vulcan healing trance, Doctor," Spock interjects.

"Whatever. The others can hold out, but they won't exactly be comfortable."

Bones is calling Spock by his name instead of one of the many "affectionate" nicknames he has for him, which definitely means some serious bonding went down on that planet that Jim doesn't know about and will absolutely grill Bones on later. But he's gotta make a good impression on that mystery kid under the table, so he keeps it professional.

"If any of them take a turn for the worse and we need to dock at the nearest inhabited planet to get them help, you let me know," he says solemnly, and Bones nods.

That's when the door hisses open again and all heads turn to see another kid step inside.

This one pauses long enough for Jim to see that he's _not_ human, unlike his buddy, before he's ducking under the table to join him. The two of them talk in muffled voices, and Jim catches the words "not how hide-and-seek works".

"I can negotiate our transport to the nearest Starfleet outpost with Captain Tridla," Uhura announces, getting them back on track, bless her. She's the only one of all of them who doesn't look like a _complete_ wreck. "If we can't contact them ourselves, that is."

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Jim gives her a small smile. "I think she likes you best. Spock, I don't know what it is about Andorians and Vulcans, but Tridla doesn't trust you as far as she can throw-- Spock. Spock, it's rude to stare."

His first officer still hasn't looked away from the two boys under the table, going as far as to bend to the side and crane his neck to see them better. The lack of perfect posture on him looks downright bizarre. He straightens up only after Jim clears his throat, and by then the rest of the people at the table are looking at him in slight alarm.

"My apologies, Captain," Spock says like nothing is out of the ordinary, straightening the ragged jumpsuit he's been given like it's his crisp Starfleet uniform. Jim does his best impression of Spock's signature eyebrow raise until the Vulcan relents. "One of the children under the table is me."

A beat of silence follows this announcement.

"Come again?" Jim says with the straightest face he can possibly manage. Bones is already on his feet with his tricorder in hand - God knows how that infernal thing survived the past week - scanning Spock with it.

"...must have been some toxins on that shrapnel that nearly impaled your heart, probably got in your bloodstream," he's muttering to himself.

"I assure you I am psychologically sound, Doctor."

"Then you wanna tell me why you're under the impression you're in two places at once?"

"Three places, if you count our buddy Spock Prime," Jim adds just to piss off Bones.

"Whatever."

"Doctor, I am perfectly capable of recognizing my own likeness..."

Spock and Bones continue to bicker while Jim does what everyone else is doing: sticking his head under the table like an idiot to watch two kids obliviously playing a hand-clapping game. The first kid who came in has his back to Jim, but he's too fair-haired to be confused for a mini-Spock.

The second kid, however, is a dead-ringer. It's actually a little frightening. He looks about ten Earth-years old and he's got pointed ears, which isn't uncommon among alien species, but it's the haircut that makes Jim think Vulcan instead of Romulan. Jim has seen Vulcan children before, and they all kind of look alike to him, but he's never seen one with eyes that wide, that warm. He's only seen those eyes on one Vulcan before - well, two. And they're both named Spock.

Over the other kid's shoulder, mini-Spock catches Jim's eye, probably because he's been shamelessly staring like he just told big-Spock not to do. Mini-Spock freezes, messing up the rhythm of their hand-clap game. And since when do Vulcans touch anyone with their bare hands?

"We have to go," mini-Spock hisses urgently to his companion, still looking at Jim while tugging on the other kid's sleeve. The kid's head whips around, following his friend's gaze.

Jim's not even sure why he's surprised by weird shit anymore, but he is, by the fact that the kid is a twelve year-old version of himself.

"Jimmy, _we need to go_ ," mini-Spock reiterates. Because this situation isn't weird enough, it needs to add Spock calling Jim by his hated childhood nickname.

"Jim, would'ya sit up like an adult and deal with your First Officer?" says Bones' irritated voice from above the table. Mini-Spock and mini-Jim are already scrambling out from under the table and by the time Jim sits up, the door is hissing shut behind them.

"Care to rejoin us, Captain?" Bones deadpans, still brandishing a tricorder but not currently waving it in Spock's face. Spock is staring at Jim intently, a question in his eyes: _did you see_? Hopefully Jim's gaping mouth is answer enough for the moment.

"I think you've spent too much time away from other Vulcans, laddie." Scotty sounds like he's torn between being respectful to his superior officer and skeptical of his sanity. "You've forgotten how to tell them apart."

Spock begins to puff up like he's about to argue, but Jim silently raises a hand to stop him, and he seems to deflate reluctantly.

"No one else thought those kids looked familiar?" Jim hesitantly asks the table at large, glancing around. Not one of them even seems phased, or like they even noticed the presence of the mini-Jim, which is still a wrench in the gears of big-Jim's brain.

Fuck, does he have to start referring to himself as big-Jim now? Old-Jim? Original-flavor-Jim? Should he start planning his life as a doppelgänger?

The crew collectively shakes their heads. Maybe he's messed up in the head, imagining the whole thing. His entire right side still hurts from him and Jaylah slamming against the deck; a concussion wouldn't exactly be a surprise.

But Uhura's got her thinking face on. She won't meet his gaze, but it's definitely her thinking face, complete with squinted eyes and tilted head.

"Let's get back to what we actually came here to talk about," Sulu suggests evenly. He's going to make a damn good captain one day.

They move on, and trying to work out how to tend to a mostly human crew with very limited, Andorian supplies temporarily pushes the kids from Jim's mind.

But after that, things start to get _really_ weird.


End file.
